GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening. I'm Geoff Bennett. AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz. On the "NewsHour" tonight: Continued
Israeli airstrikes flatten parts of Rafah, as negotiators make progress
for a cease-fire in Gaza. GEOFF BENNETT: The fight over spending on Capitol Hill intensifies, pushing the country
ever closer to a government shutdown. AMNA NAWAZ: And the state of the war in Ukraine
nearly two years into Russia's invasion. MICHAEL KOFMAN, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace: This
year is clearly looking like a year during which Ukraine is
going to focus most likely much more on holding, defending, trying to rebuild
and reconstitute the force, and maybe creating challenges for the Russian
armed forces with expanded strike campaigns. (BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour." As Israel's bombing of Gaza continues, some
progress tonight towards a resumption of talks to both release hostages held by
Hamas and reach a cease-fire agreement. GEOFF BENNETT: Israel's Arm
y Radio
said the country's war cabinet, made up of the prime minister, the
defense minister, and opposition leader, approved sending emissaries to
truce talks to be held in Paris. But that slow progress toward a deal did
nothing to stop the bombing and killing in Gaza. In Rafah this morning, the sun rose over
fresh rubble. Gazan health officials said close to four dozen Palestinians
were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Dina Al-Shaer lost three members
of her family last night. DINA AL-SHAER
, Gaza Strip Resident (through
translator): In 2014, they took three of my siblings, and in the 2024 war they took the
people I love. They took a piece of my heart. GEOFF BENNETT: In Rafah, the
Al-Farouk Mosque is in ruins as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches. KHAIRY ABU SINJEL, Gaza Strip Resident (through
translator): Listen, good people. Let the whole world to listen. We are nearing the blessed
month of Ramadan. Where shall we pray? GEOFF BENNETT: But Israeli officials
say, wi
thout a new hostage deal, their offensive won't wait for Ramadan.
Still, there are small signs of progress. Israel's defense minister said today that
Israel would expand the authority of its hostage negotiators. At the same time, violence nearby
threatens the chance for peace. In the West Bank, three Palestinian gunman opened fire at an
Israeli checkpoint, killing one and wounding at least five others. Two of the attackers were
killed by Israeli forces and the third captured. Israel's far r
ight national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called for arming more
Israeli citizens and said their right to safety was more important than the
Palestinian right to move freely. ITAMAR BEN-GVIR, Israeli National Security
Minister (through translator): I expect to have here more and more checkpoints, to have
restrictions. We need to finally come to the understanding that our enemies are not looking
for excuses. Our enemies only want to harm. GEOFF BENNETT: But, internationally, the
spo
tlight is on Israel. The United Nations' top court continues to hear arguments over
the occupation of Palestinian territories. At the G20 meeting in Brazil, a European Union
diplomat told reporters -- quote -- "There was a strong request for a two-state
solution. It is a consensus among us." In the region, Houthi militants vowed
again to continue their attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes. Today, U.S. forces said
they shot down six Houthi drones. Meantime, two Houthi missiles hit a British
ca
rgo carrier. And in the Gulf of Aden, suspected Houthi missiles set
a Liberian-owned ship on fire. In the Israeli port city of Eilat,
a suspected Houthi ballistic missile was intercepted by Israel's
Arrow missile defense system. ABDEL-MALEK AL-HOUTHI, Houthi Leader
(through translator): In the Yemen front, as we mentioned last week, we have shifted
towards an escalation in our operations, as the enemy continues to escalate further
in the Gaza Strip and persists in committing genocide by al
l means against
the Palestinian people in Gaza. GEOFF BENNETT: The situation inside Gaza only
grows worse closer to catastrophe. Beyond airstrikes and ground offensives,
Palestinians are fighting off starvation. FATHIA JOUMAA AL NAJJAR, Gaza Strip Resident
(through translator): We're trying to get food for our girls. We have girls and a boy.
I don't have anything to feed them, nothing. GEOFF BENNETT: Cooks in Deir al
Balah work in makeshift kitchens, trying to feed as many as they can. Mah
moud Abu Khalifa is a
volunteer from Northern Gaza. MAHMOUD ABU KHALIFA, Volunteer Cook (through
translator): We have a lot of people we're feeding. We have about 30,000 to
40,000 people. And it's not enough. GEOFF BENNETT: Palestinians wait in long lines
for a chance to fill of a bowl with rice, anything that will get them to the next day. In the day's other headlines: The mother of
the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says she's finally been able to see
her sons body. But in
a video statement today, she said Russian authorities won't hand over his
remains unless she agrees to a secret burial. LYUDMILA NAVALNAYA, Mother of Alexei Navalny
(through translator): According to the law, they should have given me
Alexei's body immediately, but they didn't. Instead, they blackmail
me, they put conditions where, when, and how Alexei should be buried. They want
it done secretly, without a memorial service. They want to take me to the edge of the cemetery, to a fresh grav
e and say, here lies
your son. I don't agree with that. GEOFF BENNETT: She's filed a lawsuit
demanding her son's body be released, but there won't be a hearing until next month. Meantime, President Biden met
with Navalny's widow, Yulia, and daughter today in San Francisco. A
White House photo showed their embrace and, in a statement, the president
praised her husband's courage. Russian President Vladimir Putin chided President
Biden today for calling him quote "a crazy SOB." Mr. Biden said
it during a campaign fund-raiser
last night in San Francisco in the context of the threat that Putin poses, given Russia's nuclear
arsenal. Today, on Russian state TV, Putin said it was rude, but he suggested with a hint of sarcasm
that it shows why he supports a Biden reelection. VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President
(through translator): You asked me who we prefer as the future president
of the United States. I said that we would work with any president. But
I believe that, for us, for Russ
ia, Biden is a more preferable president. And judging
by what he just said, I am absolutely right. GEOFF BENNETT: The White House had no
immediate response to Putin's remarks. In Albania, lawmakers approved a deal today to
temporarily hold thousands of migrants seeking asylum in Italy. Under the five-year agreement,
Italy will build two processing centers on Albania's coast to house up to 36,000 people per
year. Opposition members of Parliament tried to disrupt the vote today with whistles.
That's
as demonstrators gathered to condemn the plan. ARILDA LLESHI, Albanian Activist (through
translator): These tourist areas will not be the same after the migrant processing
centers are built there. They will all be sent to a closed jail. And from
what we have seen in other countries, we have reasons to believe that this will
be a security problem for the whole area. GEOFF BENNETT: Italy has asked other
European nations for help after migrant arrivals jumped 50 percent
last year fro
m the previous year. Here at home, a second fertility clinic
in Alabama is putting a hold on in vitro fertilization. It comes after the state Supreme
Court declared that frozen embryos are legally considered to be children. President Biden today
called that decision outrageous and unacceptable. A federal judge in California has blocked
a state law that targets guns designated as abnormally dangerous. The 2022 statute allows
private citizens and state and local governments to sue gun makers.
But the judge found it reaches
beyond California's borders and directly regulates out-of-state commercial transactions, and
violates the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause. A Texas judge ruled today that a high
school acted legally when it suspended a Black student over his hairstyle. Darryl
George's lawyer argued his monthslong punishment violated a state ban on
race-based hair discrimination. The judge sided with the district, which cited
its policy limiting hair length for boys. On Wa
ll Street, stocks rallied as
shares in chipmaker Nvidia jumped 16 percent. The Dow Jones industrial
average gained nearly 457 points to close above 39000 for the first time.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 460 points, or 3 percent. The S&P 500 added 105
points and also reached a record high. And Hydeia Broadbent, a leading voice
in AIDS awareness, has died at her home in Las Vegas. She was born with HIV and had
full-blown AIDS by age 5. But as a young girl, she gained national attention, appeal
ing for
support of those with the virus. In 1996, she addressed the Republican National Convention and later starred in a TV special with Magic
Johnson. Hydeia Broadbent was 39 years old. Still to come on the "NewsHour": the search
for answers after a nonbinary student dies after a fight at an Oklahoma high school;
a respected geneticist and world-famous opera singer partner on research on
music's potential to improve health; and a private spacecraft attempts the first
U.S. lunar landing s
ince the Apollo missions. AMNA NAWAZ: Some news from Capitol
Hill even as Congress is out of town. "NewsHour" has learned that bipartisan
negotiators may reach a spending deal in the next few days. But that may not be
soon enough to avert a partial government shutdown just a few days after that. This
has been a familiar plotline in recent years. But Capitol Hill correspondent
Lisa Desjardins joins us now to explain that this spending showdown
has some unique features to it. So, Lisa, let's
start with the timeline.
And forgive me. I feel like I have asked you this before, but when would a
government shutdown begin? And what, if anything, makes this showdown unique? LISA DESJARDINS: This has been as
kind of repetitive as sort of the sunset and sunrise in American politics,
but this time is a little bit different. And I'm going to show you why looking
at the timeline. It is shorter than even you might imagine. So let's look at
the calendar. When you talk about today, here we a
re, February 22.
Congress is out of town. Now, the first deadline comes next Friday.
And that's the first different feature. These spending deadlines are split in two.
Four different kinds of appropriation bills have their deadlines end next Friday,
must be passed by that or those kinds of agencies will shut down. Then there's
a second deadline on March 8 after that. Now, here's what makes it really very
difficult to imagine them reaching that first deadline without some short-term deal,
because Congress doesn't return, as I said, until next week, the Senate on
Monday, but the House, Amna, does not return to Washington until next Wednesday
afternoon. That will give them a day-and-a-half, two days to come up with some kind of
solution to meet that first March deadline. AMNA NAWAZ: So, Lisa, walk us through what
agencies and programs would be impacted, who would be affected and when,
according to those deadlines. LISA DESJARDINS: Right. We wanted to start talking about this n
ow because
we think next week is going to be busy. It's going to feel more like a crisis. We wanted to
just calmly explain what could happen here. That March 1 deadline, these are the kinds
of agencies we're talking about agriculture, energy, transportation, housing, and veterans,
the VA. Now, that includes in those agencies, WIC, the program for food for mothers
and infants, as well as the FDA itself. Now, the March 8 deadline, that is all of the
remaining agencies. Where is the bigger po
rtion of government at risk? It's March 8. That's
about 80 percent of what government does or about -- what federal agencies do. So that's
the biggest, bigger chunk, the bigger concern. But that in a way, Amna, makes that March
1 deadline more precarious. Some in the House will say, well, listen, it's not
all of government. It's not even most of government. So perhaps we can afford
to have a short shutdown after March 1. Now, let's also talk about some bigger-picture
issues here to help pe
ople understand. There is a possible spending deal this weekend. I have
that reporting from multiple sources involved in the House and Senate. But even if they have
the outlines of a deal from appropriators, it is hard to see how that full deal
for all of the spending that they need to pass can actually get through
the House and Senate by March 1. Now, if there is no long-term deal at all passed
by April 30, there will be a 1 percent cut for federal agencies. That is part of the Fiscal
Res
ponsibility Act, that debt deal, remember, led by Kevin McCarthy and with Chuck Schumer
last year and President Biden. That was trying to motivate members of the House and Senate to
get all of these spending bills passed on time. They said, if you don't pass these spending bills, there will be a cut. It's having a bit of the
opposite effect. Some conservatives say, great, let's not spend them, and let's,
in fact, do have a 1 percent cut. AMNA NAWAZ: So, Lisa, take us behind the
scenes to so
me of the politics unfolding here. As you talk to lawmakers, what's your sense of what the chances
are of a shutdown happening next week? LISA DESJARDINS: We're watching
the House Freedom Caucus. And I spoke to several members of that group today. They sent out a letter yesterday, really a warning
shot to Speaker Johnson, saying they wanted an update on this whole thing. But when you dig
beneath the surface, what's really happening here, while it was a politely worded letter, is, there
are
conservatives, and they're connected to Donald Trump, in fact, including from his son, who
sent out this e-mail today, saying what he got from that letter was that Republicans in the
Freedom Caucus were ready to trigger a shutdown. And, indeed, Amna, I did talk to at least
one member of the Freedom Caucus who said, yes, I think it's worth a shutdown, and
we should try and head that direction if we can't get spending cuts, which no
one thinks is possible in the next week. AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhi
le, Lisa,
Speaker Johnson is overseeing one of the narrowest House majorities in
history. What does all this mean for him? LISA DESJARDINS: This is his biggest test. He's been able to put off these huge decisions
where his own conference is split. He will have to decide in the next few days if he wants to
put forth a short-term resolution or not. And, of course, after that, he's got a major, very
difficult decision on Ukraine funding as well. AMNA NAWAZ: All right, that is Lisa Desjardins
with the latest twists and turns from Congress. Lisa, thank you. GEOFF BENNETT: This Saturday
marks two years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in a
war that started nearly 10 years ago. With the conflict at a
frozen and brutal stalemate, Nick Schifrin now takes stock of what's
been gained and all that's been lost. NICK SCHIFRIN: In two years, countless
wives now widows, sons now orphans, the dead stolen of their dignity and
10 million forced to flee their homes, the largest re
fugee crisis since World War II.
Everyone everywhere carries the war's scars. And so Ukraine fights; 300,000 soldiers
are determined, but exhausted, outmanned and increasingly outgunned. In some areas,
for every artillery shell that they fire, Russian soldiers fire 10. Two years ago
today, before the full-scale invasion, Russia occupied 7 percent of Ukraine. On March
22, 2022, Moscow expanded control to 27 percent. Ukraine has won back about half
that newly captured territory, but Russia s
till occupies 18 percent. Recently, Ukraine pushed the Russian navy further
back into the Black Sea, increased exports, and now increasingly threatens occupied Crimea.
But it recently lost the eastern city of Avdiivka. The Russian military has momentum
as Ukraine waits for U.S. aid, without which senior U.S.
officials fear Ukraine will lose. We now take a look at where
the war is, where it could go, and U.S. policy toward Ukraine with three views. Michael Kofman is a senior fellow
at the C
arnegie Endowment for International Peace. John Mearsheimer
is a political science professor at the University of Chicago. And Rebeccah
Heinrichs is senior fellow and director of the Keystone Defense Initiative at the
Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank. Thanks so much. All of you,
welcome back to the "NewsHour." Michael Kofman, let me start with you. As we just said, Ukraine
has lost Avdiivka. They're increasingly outgunned, outmanned. How bad is it? MICHAEL KOFMAN, Carnegie Endowmen
t
for International Peace: Look, Ukraine starts 2024 in a very difficult position.
That is very clear. Ukraine has a deficit in terms of artillery ammunition.
Part of that is because it depends on Western support for munitions,
and it has a deficit of manpower. It needs to replenish the force, particularly
the infantry component of the force. Now, while it's true that Russia is materially
advantaged in this war, that much is clear, if we look at manpower, particularly if
we look at artill
ery, to a lesser extent, equipment, that advantage at this
stage is not decisive either. The battle for Avdiivka, which was a five-month
grinding fight, tells us about the challenges both militaries face. Ukraine was forced to
retreat after fighting a defensive battle, but it inflicted very high costs on the
Russian military. It cost the Russian military almost an entire army's worth of equipment, and
equipment remains the limiting factor for them. So, that being said, this year is clearly
looking
like a year during which Ukraine is going to focus most likely much more on holding, defending,
trying to rebuild and reconstitute the force, and maybe creating challenges for the Russian
armed forces with expanded strike campaigns. NICK SCHIFRIN: Rebeccah Heinrichs, do you
agree with that assessment? And do you think the U.S. needs to go further
than it has so far in its support? REBECCAH HEINRICHS, Hudson Institute:
I do agree with Mike's assessment. You can look at all of the th
ings that
have not been going well for Ukraine. Ukraine has clearly demonstrated an amazing
ability to make gains and Retake territory, strong will to fight, strong and greater sense
of national identity. And so what Ukraine needs now into the next year, agree with Michael, it
needs to be resupplied, but also longer-range strike systems, drones, bigger drones that can
carry longer-range strike systems in order to reach Russian targets, not just in Ukraine,
but outside Ukraine into Russian
territory. NICK SCHIFRIN: So, John Mearsheimer,
what do you think about that, that all that Ukraine needs to do is hold the line and
that the U.S. should increase its support for Ukraine over the coming years in order for
Ukraine to be able to achieve what it needs? JOHN MEARSHEIMER, University
of Chicago: Well, I disagree. I think that Ukraine has already lost the
war. It's lost 20 percent of its territory, according to my calculations. And it's not
going to conquer that territory and get
it back, as was demonstrated in the failed
counteroffensive of last year. The key to understanding where this war
is headed is to know that it is a war of attrition. This is two armies that
are standing toe-to-toe and beating the living daylights out of each other. And
the question is, which army bleeds which army first? And it's quite clear that the
Russians are bleeding the Ukrainians white. As the setup piece made clear, the
Russians have about a 10-1 advantage in artillery. And there'
s nothing we can
do to fix that in the foreseeable future, because we don't have artillery on
the shelf that we can give them. Furthermore, in terms of manpower, they are in
absolutely terrible shape. They say they need a mobilization and will bring into the force
500,000 troops. They are not going to be able to mobilize 500,000 troops. In my opinion, they
will be lucky if they can mobilize 150,000 troops. And they're already greatly
outnumbered by the Russians, because the Russian populat
ion is
five times bigger than the Ukrainian population. So when you look at the metrics
that really matter in a war of attrition, the Ukrainians are in a terrible situation,
and this situation only gets worse with time. NICK SCHIFRIN: Michael Kofman, take on those
points, that there's not enough artillery to send them, that they will not have enough manpower,
and -- quote -- "Ukraine has already lost." MICHAEL KOFMAN: OK, first of all, I
just have to disagree on the facts. The United State
s has plenty of
artillery. It just doesn't have the money. And artillery production both
in the United States and European Union is increasing significantly. We will be in a
much better position by 2025 than we are now. Second, Russia's fires advantage right now is
about 5-1. It's not the size of fires advantage, given the main constraints the force has. Third,
when it comes to manpower, there's a lot more to military analysis than basic algebra. It's
much more about how you use the forces
you have and your ability to convert your resources
into combat-capable and effective formations. Russia has a lot more people on paper.
That is true, but the Russian forces in Ukraine don't actually outnumber the Ukrainian
troops on the front line by that much at all. Russia is feeding off of Soviet legacy,
pulling equipment from its warehouses. It lost a ton of it over the battle of Avdiivka.
It can't keep doing that too many times, all right? And if Russia is not on track and doesn't
l
ook like they're actually really winning this war by the time we get into 2025, their negotiating
position becomes actually very uncertain. NICK SCHIFRIN: Rebeccah Heinrichs, is Ukraine already losing? And is it a
rump state, as John Mearsheimer said? REBECCAH HEINRICHS: No, of course not. The United States currently has ready to
send Ukraine as soon as Congress gives a go-ahead and passes this national security
supplemental. We have also seen the United States and other Western companies be
able to adapt actually very quickly, increase the production of key munitions, and tick
them over to the battlefield very, very quickly. So, for the medium and long term, it does
have the ability to produce these weapons to get them to Ukraine if there is the
will to do so. And so this isn't just all good and positive things going for
Russia. It does have to look elsewhere also. And so the same situation is for
Ukraine. It's going to look to the West. NICK SCHIFRIN: John Mearsheimer, take
on those points, one, that the U.S. and Europe are increasing their production
to be able to send to Ukraine, and, two, that, in general, Russia does not have the
decisive advantage that you think it does. JOHN MEARSHEIMER: It's clear from
almost all the accounts in the media that the Russians have roughly a
10-to-1 advantage in artillery. If Michael's correct that the
artillery is on the shelf, why don't we give it or why haven't we
given it to the Ukrainians? And the fact is, it's not
on the shelf. We don't have the
artillery tubes or shells to give to them. And he says that we will make a substantial
improvement in that regard by 2025. I would remind him that this is February 2024. And we
have a lot of months to go before we get to 2025. And if you look at the Russians, they have a
significant industrial base that can pump out lots of weapons. And they're doing exactly that,
which is why they have a 10-to-1 advantage. Furthermore, if you look at manpower, there are some
reports that the average age
of Ukrainian forces is 43 years old. They're having a significant problem with draft
dodgers back in Kyiv and other places in Ukraine. This mobilization is not going
to be able to produce 500,000 troops. And Zaluzhnyi and other generals have said they
need 500,000 troops because the Russians have much larger numbers of troops. So in a war of
attrition, if you're outnumbered in terms of artillery and you're outnumbered in terms
of manpower, you're really in big
trouble. And you saw this in Avdiivka, where the
Ukrainians just suffered a humiliating defeat. NICK SCHIFRIN: Michael Kofman, what is
victory for Ukraine and can it achieve it? MICHAEL KOFMAN: Yes, what does victory look
like? Ukraine is able to achieve an end to the war on terms favorable to itself that does
not involve it sacrificing any significant amount of sovereignty or compromising
its economic viability as a state. And, ideally and most importantly, Ukraine avoids
having to negot
iate from a position of weakness, where Russia achieves a victor's peace. And I
think that's possible and it's still feasible at this point, but I won't argue that Ukraine
does not have a difficult path ahead of it. NICK SCHIFRIN: Rebeccah Heinrichs, you talk
about attacking inside Russia. Some U.S. officials, as you know, are worried about
escalation. Do you think they should be? REBECCAH HEINRICHS: To end this war on terms that
favored Ukraine, to give Ukraine the strongest hand to play t
o end this conflict that leaves
itself with a strong hand to protect itself from further incursions is to make sure that
Ukraine can inflict pain on Russia so that Russia decides that it's no longer worth the
risk and the cost to continue moving forward. To do that, you have to inflict
pain. And Russia can no longer be a sanctuary for where it is launching its
attacks and where its logistics are. So, Ukraine has already been hitting some of those
targets. It's just not been permitted to do
so with Western weapons. And that needs to change
if we're going to actually change the tide of the war and enable Ukraine, as Michael said,
to have a strong hand to play to end this war. NICK SCHIFRIN: John Mearsheimer, final word. JOHN MEARSHEIMER: And I just want to point out
that you want to understand that we armed up and we trained the Ukrainians for a
major counteroffensive last summer. And that counteroffensive was a colossal failure.
And given what's happened since then, there is
no reason to think that the Ukrainians can go on the
offensive and win a war against the Russians. And, if anything, it's quite clear that the balance
of power over time has shifted in the Russians' favor, and it's likely to continue to shift
further in the Russians' favor moving forward. So we are in deep trouble in Ukraine. NICK SCHIFRIN: John Mearsheimer, Rebeccah Heinrichs, Michael Kofman,
thank you very much to all of you. AMNA NAWAZ: There are new details
today about the death of an O
klahoma teenager the day after a physical
altercation in a school restroom. Nex Benedict, who was nonbinary,
attended high school in Owasso, a suburb of Tulsa. Police say that investigation
is ongoing. But Nex's death is raising concerns in LGBTQ+ communities and igniting fear in some
families and among students who identify as queer. For a closer look, I'm joined now
by our communities correspondent, Adam Kemp, who's been reporting
on this story from Oklahoma. So, Adam, let's begin, pleas
e, if you can just
tell us a little bit more about Nex, about who this teenager was, and also what we know about the
events that unfolded the day before Nex's death. ADAM KEMP: Yes, it's important to
start the story that we don't know how Nex identified. What we do know
is, the teen was gender-expansive. Nex was a 16-year-old sophomore student
at Owasso High School. On February 7, they were involved in an altercation with
three other students in a school bathroom. Early indications -- or e
arly reports
actually indicate that Nex had their head hit against the bathroom ground
several times during that altercation, which lasted around two minutes, before
it was broken up by other students. All the students involved were then checked
out by a school nurse. Nex was then taken by a family member to the hospital. Nex went home
that evening. And the next day, medics responded to a medical emergency involving Nex, who was
then later declared dead at a local hospital. Family and frie
nds have described Nex
as a gamer who loved to play Minecraft, a straight-A student, and a lover of
animals, including a pet cat named Zeus. AMNA NAWAZ: So, Adam, what about from authorities and from the school district? What are
we hearing from them about Nex's death? ADAM KEMP: Right. Police did say that Nex's death, preliminary
reports indicate that it was not the result of trauma. School officials have been tight-lipped
so far on this, mostly because this case does involve juveniles. Th
e Owasso police did
say that an investigation is ongoing. It is important context to note
for the story that, in 2022, Oklahoma did pass a transgender and nonbinary
bathroom ban, so that students are not allowed to use the bathroom that their gender identity
aligns with. State Superintendent Ryan Walters, it should be noted, is a very big
critic of LGBTQ+ issues in this state. But he has offered Owasso Public Schools
his support and the support of the state for counseling services. Governo
r Kevin Stitt actually
released a statement saying -- quote -- "The death of any child in an Oklahoma school is a
tragedy, and bullies must be held accountable." Again, there's just still a lot of questions
at this time without a lot of answers. AMNA NAWAZ: Adam, I know you have been
speaking with families in the area, with LGBTQ+ advocates. What
are you hearing from them? ADAM KEMP: Yes, right now, it's a lot
of fear from families that I'm hearing. Right now, in the Oklahoma state legisla
ture,
more than 50 plus anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced so far this session. That's
the most of any state, according to the ACLU. I spoke with Freedom Oklahoma, which is a
LGBTQ+ advocacy group, who has been doing their own investigation into this case and has found
that Nex had been bullied for more than a year. Speaking with Nicole McAfee,
their executive director, she had this to say about kind of the
mood of their community right now. NICOLE MCAFEE, Executive Director,
Freedom
Oklahoma: It feels incredibly overwhelming to not know how we can keep
kids in our community alive as they are being bullied and targeted not only
by fellow students, but by the state. We have a lot of teachers in that space
who they themselves are queer or trans and nonbinary and are grappling
with whether they can keep doing this work or if they feel like
their only option is to leave. ADAM KEMP: I have also spoken to many
nonbinary and trans parents here in the state who just say the at
mosphere
is that of despair right now. One mother, in particular, talked about just
the hateful rhetoric directed at her son that she's seen ramped up in the past couple
years alone. Right now, she's grappling with the idea of moving out of state and whether
that's the best option to keep her son safe. AMNA NAWAZ: So, Adam, given all the
questions, what can we expect to happen next? ADAM KEMP: Yes, Owasso police say an autopsy and
toxicology report are forthcoming. We know that -- we don't
know yet what the consequences could be
for the students that were involved in the fight. We do know that Nex's family
has hired an attorney and that vigils are being planned around
the state for later this month. AMNA NAWAZ: Of course, our thoughts
are with Nex Benedict's family tonight. Adam Kemp, our communities
reporter joining us from Oklahoma. Adam, thank you. GEOFF BENNETT: We have long known about
racial and ethnic bias in health care, but now we're getting some firsthand
knowled
ge of how pervasive it is from people within that system through
the largest study of its kind. The report was based on interviews with doctors,
nurses, dentists and mental health workers. William Brangham breaks down the study's findings,
part of our ongoing coverage of Race Matters. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In this study from The
Commonwealth Fund, nearly half of health care workers in the U.S. say racism against patients
is a major problem, and equal numbers report that they have personally wit
nessed discrimination
against patients in their workplace. Employees at facilities that mostly serve Black or Latino patients reported higher
instances of discrimination. To expand on the study's findings and why it
matters, I'm joined by one of its co-authors. Dr. Laurie Zephyrin is senior vice president for
advancing health equity at The Commonwealth Fund. Dr. Zephyrin, so good to
have you on the "NewsHour." So half of health care workers say racism is a
major problem, they have seen it
in their own workplaces. I'm curious why you chose to
look at this issue from this perspective. DR. LAURIE ZEPHYRIN, The Commonwealth
Fund: Thank you, and thanks for having me. Previous research really tells us that racism
and discrimination impact health care outcomes, especially for people of color. This study goes
a step further, really spotlighting the voice of health care workers who have witnessed racism and
discrimination and also experienced it themselves. In terms of why health wor
kers, health
care workers, understanding what health care workers are experiencing and what they
need from their employers and colleagues to address discrimination is really critical
to successful and sustainable change. Health care workers are a key part of the health care
system, and they can be a part of the solution. We do know that the perspective of patients
and providers are incredibly important, but for this study, we decided to focus
on health care workers because they're on the g
round. They impact the day-to-day
care of people. And health care workers are living and breathing in the
health care system every day. They really experience the realities of
what it is to provide health care firsthand. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: One of the more striking
disparities in this was the perspective of Black health care workers. And
I'm going to put this graphic up. While half of all health care workers said
doctors are more accepting of white patients advocating for themselves compared
to
Black patients, it was 70 percent of Black workers who said this. I mean, that kind of
perspective just has to really leap out at you. DR. LAURIE ZEPHYRIN: Yes, it
does. It does leap out at you. Where you come from is important. Diverse
experiences are incredibly important. The data are clear just in general on the
importance of a culturally diverse work force. It has a really profound impact on the
health care system, on the patients served. I'm sure you have seen the data about diver
se
work force. It can address cultural needs, language needs, improve communication,
improve patient status satisfaction. And there also may be more awareness of the impacts of discrimination and
bias because of lived experience. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There was also similar
disparities when it came to language differences, with over 70 percent of Latino
workers saying that non-English-speaking patients just don't get the same kind
of care as English-speaking patients. Do these disparities, do
you believe,
actually impact patient outcomes? DR. LAURIE ZEPHYRIN: There
are data that support the linkage between discrimination
and impact on quality of care. So we do know that there are significant
disparities and inequities and outcomes, whether we're talking about maternal mortality
and the crisis we're experiencing in this country or we're talking about inequities in life
expectancy. We do know that where you live, work, play impacts your outcomes, right? And there's impacts of dis
crimination and
racism on the social determinants of health. So we certainly have data that support
this linkage. And to your point earlier, for people that have lived experience,
whether it's race, ethnicity, language, other aspects of culture, there just may be
more of an understanding, more of a recognition, more of a sensitivity to witnessing and
discrimination within the health care system. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There was also
an interesting generational divide, with older health care wor
kers not seeing quite as
striking a level of crisis as younger workers did. What do you attribute that to? DR. LAURIE ZEPHYRIN: Yes, we didn't ask why in the
study. And so you don't know what you don't know. But a few things come to mind in terms of why
younger people, younger health care workers are seeing more. This could reflect a generational
shift in health care workers being more equity-oriented and younger workers who recognize
equity as a key component of health care outcomes. So we
need more research to clarify
these generational differences. And more research could be potentially
important to inform efforts to really prevent younger health care
workers from leaving the profession. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: On that issue, you talked
with workers about what they would like to see done to make things better. What were the
sort of general principles they articulated? DR. LAURIE ZEPHYRIN: Creating a safe reporting
environment was one that came up as crucial. So, the study found
that witnessing
discrimination creates stress and also that helped care workers fear retaliation. So
having a safe reporting environment that not only supports reporting, but also helps with
reconciliation, is really important as well. I think education also remains
crucial to engendering reform, and training is going to be very
critical, not just anti-bias training, but also training recognizing that discrimination
can be a game changer in health care, that it can impact quality of healt
h care outcomes, and also
be able to recognize the signs of discrimination. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Dr. Laurie
Zephyrin at The Commonwealth Fund, thank you so much for being here. DR. LAURIE ZEPHYRIN: Thank you.
Thanks so much for having me. AMNA NAWAZ: Two giants of music
and science are merging their knowledge to propel advancements in body and mind. Researchers, therapists, and
artists from around the world gathered to explore what is known
and what is yet to be discovered. Jeffrey
Brown takes a look and a listen for
our ongoing arts and health coverage on Canvas. JEFFREY BROWN: She is a singer, one of the
world's most beloved sopranos. But at times in her remarkable career, Renee Fleming has
experienced terrible bouts of somatic pain, the body's way of distracting her from the
mental anxiety brought from performance. RENEE FLEMING, Singer: I was never a natural
performer. And so I just kept reading and reading about the mind-body connection, trying
to understand mo
re about what was causing this, et cetera. And I discovered that the
medical profession and neuroscientists were studying music. And I asked him why one day. JEFFREY BROWN: He is the renowned
physician-geneticist best known for his landmark discoveries of disease genes
and leadership of the Human Genome Project. DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, Former Director,
National Institutes of Health: Today, we celebrate the revelation of the first
draft of the human book on life. JEFFREY BROWN: Francis Collins
headed
the National Institutes of Health, the world's largest supporter of biomedical
research, for 12 years until 2021. DR. FRANCIS COLLINS: I'm a doctor.
I want to find every possible way to help people who are suffering from illnesses
or other kinds of life experiences that are limiting their ability to flourish.
I want to make everybody flourish, and music is such a powerful
source of that kind of influence. JEFFREY BROWN: Together, they are leading
proponents of a marriage of arts an
d health, advocates for research, understanding, and
practice in the nexus of music and the brain. We talked recently on the NIH
campus about their music and health initiative, now in its seventh year. RENEE FLEMING: I believe the arts should be
embedded in health care across the boards. JEFFREY BROWN: Embedded meaning? RENEE FLEMING: Meaning, we already have
it in many, many places. Many hospitals have discovered just how beneficial it is
to have creative arts therapists on staff. Children
's hospitals should have a creative
arts studio, I think, available to parents and their children and families. So, I just
think it should be everywhere in health care. JEFFREY BROWN: It's a growing movement, one
we have been reporting on around the country, including neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins
studying music's impact on dementia patients, a hospital at the University of Florida
incorporating arts into its care, individuals who've suffered traumatic brain injuries,
like former Congre
sswoman Gabby Giffords, playing the French horn to help rewire her
brain and rebuild her ability to speak. Our understanding of the brain's connections
and responses is still in early stages, Francis Collins says, with projects like
the NIH-funded BRAIN Initiative helping show how individual circuits connect and
respond. We do know some basics, however. DR. FRANCIS COLLINS: I think
you can say the acoustic cortex, which is where your brain processes incoming
sound, and particularly musical
sound, does have some pretty interesting circuits.
It's also plastic. It responds to training. If you look at the brain of somebody who
had intense musical training before age 7, you can actually see that part of the cortex
is a little larger than in somebody who did not have that. So, our brains are responding
to the environment very clearly in that way. And then you can say, OK, if you have a musical
experience that affects you, you can see how that signal that starts out in the acoustic
cortex
spreads to many other parts of the brain. JEFFREY BROWN: Maybe you have had an MRI?
Renee Fleming got in and sang for two hours. (SINGING) RENEE FLEMING: When I show this video to people, I
always say, well, no Grammys for this performance. (LAUGHTER) JEFFREY BROWN: One interesting finding, that for
an experienced singer like Fleming, her brain circuits were more active while she thought about
or imagined singing than when she actually sang. Did that surprise you? RENEE FLEMING: It
surprised me a great
deal. It's also -- I think what's even more surprising to me is that music actually is
in every known mapped part of the brain. So it's extraordinarily diverse and throughout the entire
brain, as we know, as we currently understand it. JEFFREY BROWN: The research so far has a wide
range of implications for child development, Alzheimer's, and other forms
of dementia, Parkinson's, and other conditions and interventions. Some research goes on in labs, some in the world,
a
s in a study in which individuals were offered singing lessons. One group was given individual
training, the other as part of a chorus. DR. FRANCIS COLLINS: For 12 weeks, and to
just see what happens as far as their health, the people that had individual singing,
they did OK. The people in the choir, by all kinds of measures, were actually
affected in a very positive way. Many of them had chronic pain. Their chronic pain
was noticeably reduced. They had various measures of personal attitude
s. Their attitude toward
generosity went straight up, and their oxytocin levels went up too, as another sort of hormonal
measure of good will, good sense of health. RENEE FLEMING: My favorite is, postpartum
depression is tremendously benefited by singing in a choir. I would never
have -- I wouldn't have guessed that. NARRATOR: Having even one risk factor... JEFFREY BROWN: In fact, you know those
advertisements for drugs we're all bombarded with? NARRATOR: Ask your doctor or pharmacist
if P
axlovid is right for you. JEFFREY BROWN: Renee Fleming
has one she'd like to see. RENEE FLEMING: Ask your doctor if
music therapy is right for you. (LAUGHTER) JEFFREY BROWN: As a kind of prescription. RENEE FLEMING: Exactly. Exactly. (CROSSTALK)
DR. FRANCIS COLLINS: The prescription. Why not? JEFFREY BROWN: Yes, but you have
to -- you're saying it still has to be shown exactly in a scientific method... DR. FRANCIS COLLINS: Yes. JEFFREY BROWN: ... for a doctor
to be willing to prescribe it. D
R. FRANCIS COLLINS: Sure. That's our
system, and I'm totally behind it. You need evidence that this actually isn't just
a nice thing; it actually improves outcomes. I'm pretty convinced from the data we have
that's the case for various places, but let's tighten that up. Let's make it absolutely
incontrovertible. And then you will have a better chance with the insurance companies saying OK,
because that may save them money in the long run. MAN: Let's listen to this melody
line as it floats
all the way up. JEFFREY BROWN: At this recent gathering and
others, Fleming and Collins are advancing new findings through a variety of collaborations,
including NIH Music and Health with 20 NIH institutes, the Kennedy Center's Sound Health
partnership, and the Renee Fleming Foundation. Everything you're talking about requires
a kind of buy-in from your communities, the arts world and the science
world. But is there still pushback? DR. FRANCIS COLLINS: There's a bit, but
I think were getti
ng some real momentum going. It doesn't hurt that scientists are
also musicians. At least, many of them are. This workshop, we invited multiple leadership
at NIH to come and take part, and they all said pretty much yes, and they went away saying,
that was even more interesting than I thought. JEFFREY BROWN: A young person now
goes to the music conservatory, you want them to study therapy, science, health? RENEE FLEMING: Well, these would be divisions
within a conservatory or university. But
there's definite buy-in now. But
when I started, people were saying exactly what you're saying, is, well, we have
too much to do already with what were doing, in terms of presenting, and we're strapped, and
the funding is difficult, et cetera, et cetera. But I think pretty much everyone is on board now, because we're community service providers.
So, I think people who run performing arts organizations and conservatories are
starting to see the benefit of it. JEFFREY BROWN: And these two do
n't just talk about bringing their disciplines together. They
have been known to give it literal form, as amateur musician Francis Collins
accompanies science-fascinated Renee Fleming. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown at the National Institutes of
Health in Bethesda, Maryland. (MUSIC) (APPLAUSE) AMNA NAWAZ: And Fleming has edited a collection
of essays from scientists, artists, and therapists called "Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for
Health and Wellness." That's due out this
spring. GEOFF BENNETT: Its the first U.S.-built
spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years and the first ever
by a private company. The lander, known as Odysseus, was cause for
celebration a short time ago. MAN: We are on the surface and we are
transmitting. And welcome to the moon. MAN: Houston, Odysseus has found his new home. GEOFF BENNETT: The mission is not
expected to last about seven days until the sun sets on the landing
site and a frigid lunar night begins. Odysseus took
off from Cape Canaveral
last week. While the Houston-based company Intuitive Machines created the spacecraft, this trip is key to NASA's goal of
returning to the moon with a manned mission. Miles O'Brien joins us now. So, Miles, I got to tell you the suspense in the
studio here has been palpable over this last hour. Help us understand why this successful landing
is so significant. What all went into this? MILES O'BRIEN: Well, no matter what
the condition of the craft, Geoff, the fact that
they have gotten this far with
the relatively small budget and tiny team that they have operating on this different
structure, where NASA is more of a customer, a client than it is in charge, all of that
speaks well to the direction they're headed. How successful was this landing?
Well, I think we can say it's a success by virtue of the fact that it's
on the surface and maybe transmitting faint signals. Is it toppled over? Is
there damage to it? We don't know yet. But I think, in the grand
scheme
here, proving that this can be done, and done for essentially pennies on the dollar, is very important when you look at the larger
ambition that NASA has with the Artemis program. GEOFF BENNETT: In preparing to speak with
you, I learned that all -- or, rather, over half of all lunar landing
attempts have ended in failure. Why is this so challenging, especially
when we did this more than 50 years ago? MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, I have been
thinking a lot about that, Geoff. Of course, half,
50 percent of the time will
get you into the Major League Hall of Fame, but that's not very good for space travel. What
happened 55 years ago or so, Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 lunar module, the guidance system
was headed straight for a big boulder. And if he'd not intervened, that would
not have been a success. So trying to replicate the neural network that is the human
brain with 80 billion neurons and human eyes with computers that are going to a place we
don't know much about is a real
challenge. And, of course, the moon is tough anyway, because
there's no atmosphere. You can't use parachutes. You have to have a powered descent all the
way down. And they're going to the south pole, which is much more rugged than
any of the Apollo destinations. So a lot of people say, well, if
we did that so easily back then, why can't we do it now? There's all
that and the fact that it cost us, inflation-adjusted, about a
trillion dollars to do it. GEOFF BENNETT: Wow. Well, this lander,
as I understand it, has left behind six instruments on the
moon's surface. What exactly do they do? MILES O'BRIEN: Well, they're going to be
trying to characterize the surface of the moon. There was a lot of technology
involved in just the landing itself. There was a failure on the way down of one of
the laser guidance systems. The team was able to piggyback off of an experimental system
that NASA was flying. And there actually are some space sculptures on board as well. The idea
was to cr
eate this public-private partnership so that the company, Intuitive Machines, could
sell payloads like a cross-country trucker, NASA doing most of it, filling
up most of the truck as it were. But other commercial players are there,
including Embry-Riddle University, which had a tiny little CubeSat with
cameras on it designed to capture the landing itself. We will see if we see those
pictures. It would be great if we could. GEOFF BENNETT: Well, tell us more about this
Houston-based company
behind the spacecraft. MILES O'BRIEN: It's a lot of former NASA
people, a lot of steely-eyed rocket scientists. Steve Altemus is a legendary flight
director from NASA in the shuttle days and senior manager at NASA. There's some
experience here, but it's worth pointing out it's been two generations since anybody
actually lived through this in the United States and landed a craft on the moon.
And so the institutional memory is gone. We're -- in a way, we're having
to relearn all of this with
new technology and without humans in the loop
at the surface. So it's a different game right now with a different set
of experience that's required. GEOFF BENNETT: And, Miles, in
the 30 seconds we have left, what is NASA hoping to glean with
another manned mission to the moon? MILES O'BRIEN: Well, I think they
want to prove they can stay there. Building an outpost in space, as much as anything, is to prove human beings can live in these
environments because the long-range goal for NASA re
mains putting human beings on Mars.
The idea is, if you can do it at the moon, which is much closer, much faster radio
signals, you have got a better shot on Mars. GEOFF BENNETT: That is Miles O'Brien,
our man on all things space and aviation. Always a pleasure, Miles. Thanks. MILES O'BRIEN: You're welcome, Geoff. GEOFF BENNETT: And that is the "NewsHour"
for tonight. I'm Geoff Bennett. AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz. On behalf of the entire "NewsHour"
team, thank you for joining us.
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